Cryptocurrency will be “very important” for overcoming banking issues, lack of progress on harmonization may be due to inertia, and new CIP competition from Europe is ultimately a good thing, Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua & Barbuda told Investment Migration Insider in Davos.

Asked to comment on a bill passed in Antigua & Barbuda’s parliament this summer, which opened for the payment of investments under the CIP by way of euros and cryptocurrencies, PM Browne noted that interest in alternative payment methods had not been significant, a state of affairs he attributed to a lack of awareness of

After more than a year of statistical report silence from Antigua & Barbuda’s CIU, the unit on Friday published data showing the first half of 2018 had seen the greatest volume of applications in the program’s history. All told, the CIU received 278 applications between January 1st and June 30th this year, a figure 49%

Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua & Barbuda says he is open to amending laws on banking and information sharing if that’s what’s necessary to comply with OECD demands. The OECD this week released a “blacklist” of 21 jurisdictions they consider to have a high risk of CRS-evasion because the countries in question have both

The Antigua & Barbuda CIU last week informed its accredited agents that it would extend the Limited Time Offer of US$100,000 for a single applicant for both the program’s donation and real estate options until October 31st, 2019. In a separate circular issued on the same day, the CIU revealed details on the commission structure

Addressing Parliament on Thursday, Antigua & Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne announced the formal launch of the citizenship by investment program’s new university contribution option intended to fund the new campus of the University of West Indies, according to Antigua Observer. Browne first heralded plans for such an option some four months ago. At the time, an

Three purported criminals have made headlines for their reported connections to CIP-countries this week. We’ve summarized the stories. Mehul Choksi – Alleged perpetrator of India’s biggest ever bank-fraud India’s Central Bureau of Investigation wants Antigua & Barbuda’s authorities – who have confirmed that the man is a citizen of and currently present in the country –

From Saint Kitts & Nevis in 1984 to Jordan, Moldova, and Montenegro in 2018; we’ve made a step-by-step guide to the history of citizenship by investment programs. The infographic, originally published in June 2017, has been updated to reflect the new citizenship by investment programs in Moldova, Montenegro, and Jordan. We’ve also expanded it to include

Antigua & Barbuda’s prime minister Gaston Browne says he welcomes the Monetary Council of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank’s (ECCB) initiative to investigate whether Caribbean citizenship by investment programs (CIPs) are following through on their commitment to have each applicant reviewed by regional security organizations. Last week, Grenadian prime minister Keith Mitchell – who has

Indian officials have received confirmation from Antigua that Mehul Choksi is in the country and will move to request extradition soon. The Antigua & Barbuda CIU, meanwhile, has issued a press release explaining the due diligence conducted on Mr. Choksi, and what they discovered during the process. For background on the Choksi-case, see Due Diligence Blunder?

Opinion of the Editor: The Antigua & Barbuda CIU came under fire this week after revealing they had granted citizenship to a man – wanted by Indian authorities over an alleged fraud case – months before any suspicion was raised. That’s unreasonable. Indian businessman Mehul Choksi stands accused of defrauding the Punjab National Bank of

India’s Central Bureau of Investigation has formally requested that Antiguan authorities account for the whereabouts of Mehul Choksi. Responding to the case, Antigua & Barbuda’s government says it will honor “legitimate requests, within the law” for the man to be returned to India. The Antigua Observer reports that Lionel “Max” Hurst, Chief of Staff with

Antigua & Barbuda’s Parliament this Monday amended the Citizenship by Investment Act to allow for cryptocurrencies, as well as euros, to be used as forms of payment for applications to the country’s citizenship by investment program. Prime Minister Gaston Browne expects the move to open new markets and to help mitigate the de-risking problem from

Mehul Choksi, an Indian billionaire diamond-magnate whose passport Indian authorities revoked earlier this year in conjunction with their issuing of an arrest warrant for the man, has obtained a citizenship in Antigua & Barbuda, as confirmed by that country’s Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU). Choksi – owner of the Gitanjali Group, a jewelry empire with over

Episode 3 of the documentary series Caribbean Citizenship by Investment, the first-ever documentary on all five citizenship by investment programs (CIPs) in the Caribbean, is now available. In the series, we visit each country to learn more about the respective citizenship by investment programs and life on the ground on the islands. The third episode covers

Antigua & Barbuda’s Citizenship by Investment Unit (ABCIU) this week announced a handful of amendments to its Citizenship by Investment Programme (the ABCIP), chief among which was the introduction of a Limited Time Offer on real estate which included the option for two applicants to make a joint investment of US$200,000 each in property (rather

The Caribbean Investment Summit 2018 is in full swing at the Saint Kitts Mariott. In attendance are several Caribbean prime ministers, as well as some 300 investment migration professionals from across the globe. Prime Minister Browne of Antigua & Barbuda, never one to mince his words, spoke frankly of his disdain for opponents of citizenship

This article was contributed by regular columnist Stephane Tajick. Every year at STC, we review some of the main immigration programs catering to High Net Worth Individuals and business people. We gather detailed information on all immigration programs, but also on the permanent residency and citizenship processes themselves. This year, we reviewed 189 programs, some